I have heard several Esoteric models, and none of them have induced me to buy one.
None of the Esoteric units I heard sounds anything like what the OP is asking about. Rich sound and musicality are not words that I associate with Esoteric players.
Now, that said maybe you can tune the sound in that direction by using warm cables, like Transparent. I suppose there's many ways to accomplish the same goal.
The OP hopefully has a chance to listen to some players, as sonically the Esoteric and Marantz are very different sounding players, who each have their admirers.
